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Part 6
CHAPTER VI. THE THYATIRA LETTER And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like unto burnished brass. I know thy works, and thy love, and faith, and ministry and patience, and that thy last works are more than the first.
But I have against thee that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess. And she teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. And I give her time that she should repent, and she willeth not to repent of her fornication.
Behold, I do cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their works. And I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts. And I will give unto each one of you according to your works.
But to you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira, as many as have not this teaching, which know not the deep things of Satan, as they say, I cast upon you none other burden. Howbeit that which ye have, hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the ends, to him will I give authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers.
And as I also have received of my Father, and I will give him the morning star, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. Revelation 2 verses 18 to 29 Thyatira was a small city in Asia Minor. While we have no certain account of the planting there of the Christian church, it may be it was an indirect result of the influence of Lydia.
We remember how she, the seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, was one at the prayer meeting held on the banks of the river. There her heart was opened to receive the truth and obey it, and she and all her household were baptized and received into the fellowship of the church. They belonged to Thyatira, though at the time they were living near Philippi.
This, of course, is pure conjecture. Nothing has been definitely revealed. Therefore again we are confined for our knowledge of the church to what appears of it in this letter of Jesus.
In addressing the angel, the Lord announces himself as, The Son of God, who hath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet like unburnished brass. The Son of God. This is the first time that he has made use of this description of himself in these letters.
And it marks the assertion of power and authority. He is the infallible one to whose speech the church must pay attention. When John turned to see the vision, he beheld, one like unto a son of man, but yet the glory of the vision spoke also of the fact that he was son of God.
And now, in this central letter of the seven, he makes use of the title of supreme authority. From the complete vision he selects two facts concerning himself, which indicate the special meaning and value of the message he is about to deliver. His eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like unburnished brass.
The eyes of fire suggesting his intimate knowledge, his penetrating vision concerning the church, so that in the sentence he is about to pronounce, there can be no mistake, for his understanding of all the conditions is a perfect understanding. The eyes of fire pierce all the deeps of darkness, and know the profoundest secrets. He is also the one who hath his feet like unburnished brass, and by these statements he practically announces the fact that he is coming in judgment, which is strong and pure.
His eyes like a flame of fire. He sees perfectly and understands accurately. His feet like unburnished brass.
He marches to judgment. The king amid the seven golden lamp stands, and the track of his coming is the track of fire. Righteous, pure, and final are all his judgments.
Within the church at Thyatira there is an evil for which no remedial measures are sufficient. It is not one that admits of correction. There is nothing for it but destruction.
It has permeated the whole fellowship. Nothing but judgment remains, and so he comes to definite and immediate dealing with this evil. His commendation commences with the usual words, I know.
The general statement is, I know Thy works. Then follows an analysis, and Thy love and faith and ministry and patience. And lastly, Thy last works are more than the first.
Three things are indicated by this commendation. First, the works of the church. Secondly, the forces that lie behind the works, Thy love and faith and ministry and patience.
And lastly, that those works have not decreased, but increased. He thus approves the activity of the church, the principles upon which it is based, and the fact that in true order it increases. His first approbation is of the church's work, the things that are seen, his second of the hidden facts that lie behind the outward manifestation.
Thirdly, he approves that which is always a sequence of such condition, that the last works are more than the first. I know Thy works. He does not name or tabulate them.
He declares his acquaintance with them. He also recognizes that behind them lie the love and fidelity, the ministry and the patience, and the fact that because these works have these principles behind them, the last works are more than the first. Notice principally, though briefly, the principles he recognizes as lying behind the works of the church, I know Thy love.
This is a statement of the church's character. It is the fact that lies at the root, and out of which all springs. Underlying all the works there was a principle toward God and man which the Master had declared to be the sum and substance of the law of God.
It was a church character. There was no breach, no division, no schism, but a wonderful manifestation of love. I know Thy faith.
Again, the force of the word is Thy fidelity. Faith is here mentioned not as the principle out of which an attitude grows, but rather the attitude of fidelity that grows out of the principle of confidence. I know Thy steadfastness.
I know that in Thee is manifested the opposite of fickleness. Too often works of love are alike, occasional and spasmonic, but here they were characterized by constancy. In this case the love was not an accident, it was a habit.
I know Thy ministry. And herein is a tender and beautiful touch. He was conscious of love in action, of deeds done because of love to God and man.
There is a difference between this ministry and the general works already referred to. They are the peculiar and special activities of the church of Jesus Christ in its church capacity. The ministry referred to here is rather that of unofficial kindnesses and tendernesses of the members as amongst themselves, and in all probability toward the outsider also.
It is possible to have a church characterized by works, and yet sadly devoid of this particular kind of ministry. There have been officials constantly zealous concerning all official work, and yet lacking the thousand tender touches which fulfill this highest ministry. So many men are ready to spread a banquet, and slow to give a cup of cold water.
But to this church, the Master says, I know Thy ministry as well as Thy works. All the outpouring of the life in untabulated service. I know Thy patience.
This is a great word upon which the Master seemed to set much value. He spoke of it to the church at Ephesus, and now again to this church at Thyatira. May we not define this patience as the spirit of peace under pressure? Surely Milton's words may be taken as a perfect exposition of true patience.
Yet I argue not against heaven's hand or will, nor bait a jot of heart or hope, but still bear up and steer right onward. Patience is the capacity for being still when all around is tempest-tossed. Patience is the flower of fidelity.
If fidelity is the activity of faith, patience is the condition of character resulting therefrom. It is that peace of heart under pressure of life which is so fair and fragrant a thing to us, and ever seems to give the heart of the Lord satisfaction and joy. And yet again, I know that Thy last works are more than the first.
There has been progress and development resulting from this intermediate group of facts. The outward and evident activity of the church had broadened and deepened. Such was the Master's commendation, and very beautiful it is.
How tenderly the Lord recognizes all the best facts in the life of the church! How excellent a thing it would be if when, for any reason, we are called upon to criticize some assembly of the saints, we might take our Lord's pattern and utter first our commendation. This He always did unless there was no word of His commendation that could be uttered. In His messages we ever discover His recognition of excellent things.
But now we pass to the solemn words of this mysterious epistle, the words of complaint. But I have against thee that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel. That is all.
Nothing more. There is no other complaint against this church. The whole paragraph which follows from the middle of the twentieth verse to the end of the twenty-third contains simply the statement of the facts of the case, which demonstrate our Lord's right to complain against the church for suffering the woman.
It cannot be overemphasized that the sin of this church consisted in the fact that she raised no protest against the woman Jezebel, that she allowed an outsider to promulgate under her shelter the most terrible doctrine with the most disastrous results. Jezebel did not belong to the church. She may have been a member of the congregation, even perhaps enrolled in the earthly list of the fellowship, but she had no living relation with the church because she did not belong to Christ.
The church incurred a terrible responsibility by suffering her. Not the teaching, nor the result of the teaching did the Lord charge against the church, save as she becomes responsible for what she suffers. The wrong of this false toleration may be gathered from an examination of the woman, her work, and her judgment.
In attempting to consider the woman Jezebel, we are at once found in the presence of all kinds of questionings and doubts and interpretations. Is the whole language figurative? Did Jezebel stand for an idea, or was she actually a woman, exerting evil influences through pernicious teaching in Thyatira? These things perhaps cannot be finally or satisfactorily answered. The greatest probability is that there was an actual woman.
The marginal rendering of the message to the angel is, Thou sufferest Thy wife Jezebel, and there are those who believe that this woman was indeed the wife of the angel of the church. Whether this be so or not, there can be little doubt of the existence of an actual woman. Whether her real name was Jezebel may be doubtful.
It is probable that when the master named the woman, he borrowed a name from the Old Testament in order to light up the fact of her character and the influence she was exerting. Turn from these things that are doubtful, and let us examine the actual words of Christ. Thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess.
What is a prophetess, and why is the statement made in this form, She calleth herself a prophetess? There can be very little doubt that the woman claimed to be an inspired woman who had received some new revelation. Some vision or enlightenment had been granted to her, denied to the apostles, and she was promulgating this new teaching. The result is carefully stated by the Lord in the words, She teacheth and seduceth.
The result of the teaching was the seduction of the servants of God, and the teaching was made forceful because the woman claimed that she was an inspired messenger. The name that the master uses in referring to her suggests an analogy with her Old Testament prototype. Let us think for a moment of the Jezebel of old.
She was a daughter of the king of Tyre and Sidon, avowedly a teacher and worshipper of Baal. This worship of Baal was nature worship, and as is the case with all nature worship, it had become utterly degraded. Coming into relationship with the king of Israel by marriage, we learn from the ancient history of God's people that she was not only his consort, but that she was associated with him in the government, with the result that she said in effect, Let us also set up the worship of Baal.
I do not ask that the worship of Jehovah should be set aside, but by the sight of it let us have opportunities for nature worship. Her method was that of uniting the two worships. The purpose in her heart was that of the setting aside of the worship of Jehovah for the worship of Baal.
Of all the women seen in Old Testament history, none was more brilliant, more daring, more unscrupulous than Jezebel. The name of this woman in the church at Thyatira drives us back to this woman of the old economy, and of her the Lord declares that, She teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. What was it that she was teaching? Nothing at the moment seems to be said on the point, but presently when the master is pronouncing his judgment, he gives us a clue to the character of the teaching.
But to you, I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira, as many as have not this teaching, which know not the deep things of Satan, as they say. What did the Lord mean by this, as they say? He evidently refers to a claim set up within the teaching of Jezebel that she had discovered some new deep, hidden philosophy of life. Christ called it the deep things of Satan.
This new revelation by inspiration, the end of which was to show how in the heathen systems were deep philosophies, and the result of which was to seduce the servants of God into complicity with the outward corruptions of heathendom, Christ characterizes as the deep things of Satan. It was evidently an attempt to graft onto Christianity as revealed in the church, the mysteries of darkness by which Christianity was surrounded in that district. As there was the germ principle of antiomanism, dealt with in the church at Pergamum, so here there is the germ principle of the heresy of Gnosticism in the woman of Jezebel.
Here was an attempt made to fathom deep and underlying and unrevealed mysteries of life, and to make application of them under the name and sanction of the church, and the issue of the whole business was corruption. Truly, there is nothing new under the sun. The latest of all heresies which names itself by conjunction of words, Christian and science, of all the facts concerning which it is profoundly ignorant, is but the galvanizing of a mummy under the inspiration of yet another woman calling herself a prophetess.
This latter-day manifestation, dealt with philosophically, might be treated as the amusement of a passing hour, but the terrible effect it is producing among the servants of God should call the church to new attention to our Lord's message to Thyatira, and the estimate it contains of His view of a church that suffers such awful teaching. What then, according to the master's estimate, was the result of this woman's teaching? It was a lowering of the standard of separation between the church and the world. One uses the word with bated breath, for it is a terrible word.
She teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit fornication. In the prophecy of Hosea there is a startling revelation of the nature of spiritual fornication. It is God's estimate of the sin of those who were betrothed to Him when they returned to the things from which they had turned to Him.
People who should be satisfied with Christ, wholly possessed by Him, led by Him, taught by Him, are playing the harlot with the things that are against Him. The influence of the teaching of Jezebel was that the separated children of God, redeemed from the present evil world, called to separation from that world, were forming new alliances therewith, and the spirit of worldliness was spreading because of the toleration of the teaching of Jezebel. The members of the church at Thyatira were finding their way to the feasts in the heathen temple, eating the things sacrificed to idols, and ascending even to the depth of the vices that ensued.
The teaching which made this possible for them was not the teaching of Balaam, which said that the covenant was so sure and strong that sin could not break it. This denied the sinfulness of sin, affirming that within the things that seem to be evil are things of good. It was a practical denial of evil, in that it advanced union between the deep things, or mysteries of the outside world, and the mysteries which are the revelations of the Christian church.
And so the servants of God had become seduced by the teaching. First, the false teaching concerning the deep things of Satan, and then the seduction following. His people went over to the forces which were against him, and committed harlotry and fornication in the spiritual realm by using freedom bestowed by him for the violation of his will.
His charge against the church was that notwithstanding these terrible facts, she was silent and tolerant. Then mark his words of judgment. These are introduced with the declaration of his patience.
And I gave her time that she should repent. Then follows a statement that reveals the speaker, reveals him as the Son of God, and reveals him as the one whose eyes are as a flame of fire. She will not to repent of her fornication.
No one else could have said that. He who knows even these deep things of Satan declares that the will is hardened and set against repentance, and then, and never until then does he pronounce judgment. There is first a personal visitation.
Behold, I do cast her into a bed. The symbolism is graphic and forceful and terrible. It suggests that the woman who has taught and seduced his servants shall find her destruction in the midst of the very corruption which she has created.
More than that cannot be said. Then follows the fact that others will share in the doom, and them that commit adultery with her unto great tribulation except they repent of her works. The only way to escape the tribulation which he pronounces upon those who have been seduced is that they shall repent of her works and turn altogether from the things resulting from her teaching.
And then the last and final word in this connection. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am he who searcheth the reins and hearts. This description of the woman, her sin and her judgment, lies in a paragraph in the midst of the epistle recording our master's reason for disapproval.
The church's wrong was that this woman had been permitted. Some of the children of God had been seduced, and yet no protest had been raised. It was a false charity, permitting the teaching of the woman somewhere and somehow under the patronage of the church itself.
The whole church was not contaminated with the doctrine. Of it he said some of his sweetest and strongest things. But in a false charity the woman Jezebel had been suffered.
The church had not, with sufficient clearness, announced the fact that she had no dealing with the heresy taught, that between the inspired truth of which the church was the pillar and the ground, and the hysterical teaching from the self-styled prophetess, there was no complicity and could be no union. Let us turn now to our Lord's words of counsel, full of encouragement and gracious promise. But to you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira.
Thus to those who had not been influenced by the teaching, nor consented to its toleration, he said, I cast upon you none other burden, howbeit that which ye hold, hold fast till I come. Did he mean that they were to hold fast the burden until he came? Assuredly he did. What then is the burden? The truth as once for all delivered to them.
And by saying, I cast upon you none other burden, he meant, do not be led away by any new mysteries, or new perplexities, or new revelations. I have laid upon you the burden of truth sufficient for the moment. I cast upon you none other burden.
Any new revelation that men claim as from me, receive it not. Any new philosophy of life that fails to harmonize with that declared, reject. Howbeit that which ye have, the truth is revealed.
My law of life, that hold fast. Do not suffer anyone to teach something which I forgot to say. I will cast upon you none other burden.
Carefully note this. There seems to be almost a play upon the words in what Jesus said. There's certainly familiarity with their root meaning.
He says, those of you who have not this teaching, that know not the deep things of Satan, that word, deep things, is the word pathos, that is, the profundities of Satan. And he then says, I cast upon you none other burden. That word, burden, is the word beros, which means an impression made.
Both pathos and beros spring from the original root, beos. It is evident that he was speaking with an intimate knowledge of the history of the words, and indulging in a play upon them. It is as though he had said, these people are professing to discover some new deep things which they will lay upon you.
I cast upon you none other deep things. Herein is a great principle for the government of our intelligent life as Christian people. The thing claiming to be new is therefore to be doubted.
The message he has delivered is complete. The doctrine is enunciated. The mysteries are revealed.
And whosoever, man or woman, would claim to reveal a new mystery is the messenger of Satan. And yet again, hold fast till I come. How often this reference to his coming, and almost wherever found, it has some fresh light and meaning.
It is as though he would say, wait for the deeper things until I come. When I come, I will unlock the mysteries. I will reveal the profundities.
If I have not told you of them, it is because you cannot bear them yet. There are deep mysteries of life, and great and marvelous secrets, but you are not ready for their understanding. I cast upon you none other burden.
You have all you can bear. Howbeit that which ye have, hold fast till I come. And then we shall know as we are known, and the mysteries, attempting to fathom which to-day we can find corruption only, will flame with light, and lead in the way of truth.
The closing promise and the crowning statement follow. And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers, as I have also received of my father. Notice the contrast.
Them that commit adultery with her integrate tribulation, except they repent of her works. He that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works. This is the promise of coming authority, and authority to be delivered to the saints, when they have held fast to the trust committed to them, until God's moment of consummation arrives.
I will give him the morning star. We shall often walk in darkness. There will be many mysteries perplexing us.
The burden we have is sufficient for the building of our character, for our growth in life, and ministry, and works. The other things will wait. Presently he will give us the morning star.
That expression only occurs three times in Scripture. In the book of Job, in the language of God, when he is causing his glory to pass before the astonished vision of his servant, he tells Job of the wonder-working age, when he laid the beams and wonders of nature, and he says, when the morning stars sang together. This was the song of the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, as they wrought in the spaces of new creation.
I go to the end of the library, and I find that Jesus says, I am the bright and the morning star. He is the prince of creation. He is the firstborn.
And if we will but wait, and not follow the last prophecy of impertinent attempt to discover hidden things, he will give us the morning star. We shall know the secrets of life, the deepest problems, and discover his lordship in all. How often has the church of Christ imperiled her safety by giving undue heed to some new voice.
I am growing afraid of the men or the women who have seen a vision and now feel called upon to declare it. Do not misunderstand me. I believe in visions.
But let us before we speak of the vision be perfectly sure that it is not nightmare. The probability is that if you have a vision, you will not say much concerning it, but men will know that you have seen by the light that lingers on your face. Perfect light has shined upon man in Christ.
With the shining of that light, all symbols and signs of the old covenant have passed, and the visions and the dreams have largely ceased. The lower orders of material miracles have given place to the higher in the realms of spiritual triumph. Let us ever be careful how we give credence to a new voice.
We must be loyal to Christ, and loyalty to Christ is loyalty to the inspired word and its mighty teachings. To deny Christ is to deny atonement and to deny sin, and the only voice that denies these has learned its language and caught its tone in the deep things of Satan. Is not the voice of Jezebel to be heard in our churches today in more ways than one? Is there not sounding all around us a cry as against separation? Is there not a terrible tendency in church life to deny that the Master calls us to places of peculiarity and loneliness in our loyalty to Him? We may still retain our church relationship and our name Christian, and because of some new voice, each of things sacrifice to idols without defilement and have easy absolution, not by blood, from the filth of fornication.
Is it really popular today to call church members into the place of separation from worldliness? Is there not a greater eagerness than ever to find some doctrine by submission to which we can be rid of sin while still keeping it? Yet surely the New Testament is perfectly clear. Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be to you a father, and ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil world. If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a people for His own possession.
Be ye yourselves holy in all manner of living. Through the whole New Testament the call is to separation, to peculiarity, to a clear line of demarcation between the church and the world. I fear that the voice of Jezebel is yet tolerated, and that the children of God are being seduced.
Things at which our fathers shuddered are today being introduced as necessary to the social and financial success of the church. In the name of God and humanity, let us keep the line clear and sharp, and know on which side we stand. Any doctrine, any philosophy, that makes it easy to sin, whether by excusing it, minimizing its enormity, or denying its existence, is of hell, and not merely are those held guilty who teach the doctrine and practice the sin, but that church also which is not clear and outspoken in its protests against sin.
The church that suffers the woman is guilty. End of chapter 6